Mommy Milk Rant

Posted Friday, December 17, 2010 by Kally83
This post came about after reading this article.

There are few things that I’m more passionate about in this life than breastfeeding. I openly admit to being a lactivist. I respect that women choose formula but I don’t always agree with their reasons for doing so. I was a formula fed baby, and I certainly can’t deny that the introduction of formula saved many babies who might otherwise have died BUT it was never meant to be the norm. Thankfully that thought is shifting but we still have such a long way to go.

I recently joined a group on Facebook called Eats on Feets. It’s an online resource that connects nursing mothers who have breastmilk to spare with mothers who need it. Unlike milk banks, this milk would not be pasteurized and of course there would be a certain level of risk involved. In light of this, Health Canada has recently issued an advisory about milk sharing. So what is a mom who desperately wants breastmilk for her baby to do? Move to British Columbia where the ONE Canadian milk bank is located. One. For an entire country, there is ONE milk bank. The government pushes and pushes women to breastfeed their babies and then provides no support whatsoever. I have countless friends who, due to a complete lack of knowledge and support in the hospital, have ended up supplementing and often, completely switching to formula. For those who genuinely couldn’t produce milk, their ONLY option is formula because we live nowhere near BC.

If the government wanted to help, they would start making an effort to have milk banks AT LEAST in every province. More would be better. Instead they issue blanket statements , invoking guilt in mother’s who are only trying to provide the best they can for their babies. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
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2 comments:

  1. Aisha @The Bewitching Bibliophile
    December 17, 2010 at 9:52 AM

    i certainly agree with you. Nothing like the campaigning these formula companies do to make mothers feel like theu aren't normal if they even think about breastfeeding. Then there are the people who try to make you seem indecent for feeding your child in a 'public' place. very frustrating, but then again it might become a great place for someone to create a business from, the government won't do it, then someone should step in and try to link up others in the same providence.
    BB

  1. Aine O'Brien
    December 17, 2010 at 11:04 AM

    Formula companies are as suspicious to me as pharmaceutical companies. when I had my children, they loved to send you home with a case of premixed, bottled formula, even if, like me, you were a breastfeeding mother. And let's not forget what Nestle did in underdeveloped countries. It's all about money and I often wonder who exactly are in bed with these gigantic corporations....

    My mother's generation did not breast feed, so I was the first generation of mothers who were encouraged to, and still many mothers did not. We were not given much support. Most of the breastfeeding leagues at the time were almost militant in their "cause" caring more about that than the mothers they were supposed to support. I used to say to mothers to be - you have to be OK with feeding your baby in public. If not, you won't be able to do this - babies don't wait for you a convenient time or a private place. It's natural, get over it. :) I also used to remind them that after the baby has an established schedule breast feeding becomes very easy - no more leaking,soreness, etc. (that's something NO ONE told me.)

    Anyway, I'm not up on these milk banks - but I suspect that there are regulations that make it almost impossible for them to exist. And to think, one time wet nurses were common.

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